Genesis 2.0 (Monster Apocalypse Survival) Sci-Fi/DarkFan/Horror

Chapter Thirty-one

Ember's invisible - yet comforting - weight trembles against my sweaty back, her way of reminding me she's still there. I croon inaudibly soft sounds at her, holding the questions of her whereabouts at bay for the time being. True, I've not had a reason to need her, and Joe had said she'd be there if I did. But I do wonder how the blade absorbing all those souls affects the rules, such as they were.

"Vampire," Joe barks. "Why don't you begin by telling us what we may call you."

The sickly pale, teenage boy turns toward our leader, his ageless eyes narrowing slightly.

"We don't often share our names," he hisses softly. "One never knows when Witches are about, and the Fey aren't the only creatures whose names hold power over them."

"Very well," Joe agrees, way too easily for my liking. I still feel the dead thing's aura slithering all over me like a greasy coat of paint. I've never wanted a scalding hot shower so badly in my life, and that's saying a lot since personal hygiene isn't real big on the to-do list during a zombie apocalypse.

Then, the vampire's words really hit home.

"What other scaries are real?" I turn and ask Joe. "Zombies, angels, demons, vampires -" I raise a finger for each one I name - "Now witches and Fey, what else haven't you told me?"

"First things first," Joe says, and turns his eyes back to the monster among us, raising his eyebrows in question.

The vampire spreads his arms wide, he even gives a slight bow, as if he's an English gentleman or something.

"Very well, you may call me Edward."
I don't catch the laugh until it bubbles its way out of my mouth.

"Are you serious?" I giggle. "Like Edward Cullen? Did Stephenie Meyer's book series give all vampires an ego?" No, I wasn't a fan, didn't even see the movies, but I remember all my friends in junior-high school fan-girling like air-headed twits. Yet another reason I wasn't in the popular crowd.

Edward nods his head once, his own lips spreading in a wide smile. A full-body shiver rolls over me. I've heard that most all smiles are infectious, that if someone smiles at you, you can't help but smile in return. But that isn't the case now.

I'll never understand a person who smiles at a vampire. The joy that erupts in a person's eyes when they smile isn't in Edward's. His eyes truly look dead. He reminds me of a puppet, dangling from its strings, arms and legs moving in jerky motions, nothing more than an animated corpse, being driven by a need he'll never satisfy.

"Don't let Edward here fool you," Daniel warns as he moves to stand beside me, his hands balled into fists at his side. "He only looks and acts like that because he hasn't fed in weeks, maybe months. If he was fully replenished, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between monster and human."

Message received. Don't underestimate him or let my guard down while around a vampire.

Daniel merely nods at my inner monologue.

"Apparently, there's much your traveling companions haven't told you, yes?" Edward wiggles his thin line of eyebrows. "Shall I share my wisdom?"

"We don't have time for this," Joe warns, his voice deep and authoritative. "You'd do well to be gone by the time we head back," he adds, his own eyes narrowed at Edward, and places his big hand on my shoulder, nudging me to start walking back up the trail.

Before I resist, and demand the chance to ask some of the questions burning my brain, Edward not-smiles again, and offers another slight bow.

"One tiny morsel of information," he offers softly. "For you, my lovely." And I swear it feels like something is brushing against my skull, but it's so light, like the flutter of butterfly wings in the almost-still air. "Humans are now bottom of the food chain, I wouldn't let my guard down too much were I you."

And with that said, he slinks back into the shadowy tree cropping, all but disappearing before my eyes.

"We will meet again," he calls.

A/N: What are your thougths on the vampire's warnings?